Skills
skills/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/game-hacking-techniques

game-hacking-techniques

Installation
SKILL.md

Game Hacking Techniques

Overview

This skill covers game-hacking techniques documented in the awesome-game-security collection, with emphasis on how cheats move from user mode to kernel mode, hypervisors, and DMA when defenders raise the bar. It is best used to understand the offensive side of the threat model that anti-cheat systems are designed to detect.

README Coverage

  • Cheat > Debugging
  • Cheat > Packet Sniffer&Filter
  • Cheat > Packet Capture&Parse
  • Cheat > SpeedHack
  • Cheat > Injection:Windows
  • Cheat > Injection:Linux
  • Cheat > Injection:Android
  • Cheat > Injection:IOS
  • Cheat > Injection:PlayStation
  • Cheat > DLL Hijack
  • Cheat > Hook
  • Cheat > Anti Signature Scanning
  • Cheat > RPM
  • Cheat > DMA
  • Cheat > W2S
  • Cheat > Overlay
  • Cheat > Render/Draw
  • Cheat > UI Interface
  • Cheat > Vulnerable Driver
  • Cheat > Driver Communication
  • Cheat > EFI Driver
  • Cheat > QEMU/KVM/PVE/VBOX
  • Cheat > Wine
  • Cheat > Anti Screenshot
  • Cheat > Spoof Stack
  • Cheat > Hide
  • Cheat > Anti Forensics
  • Cheat > Triggerbot & Aimbot
  • Cheat > WallHack
  • Cheat > HWID
  • Cheat > Bypass Page Protection
  • Cheat > SDK CodeGen
  • Cheat > Game Engine Explorer:*
  • Cheat > Explore UWP
  • Cheat > Explore AntiCheat System:*
  • Cheat > Game:*
  • Cheat > Launcher Abuser
  • Cheat > Linux Kernel Explorer
  • Cheat > Cheat Engine Plugins
  • Some Tricks > Windows Ring0
  • Some Tricks > Windows Ring3
  • Some Tricks > Linux
  • Some Tricks > Android

Escalation Model

User-Mode

  • Read and write process memory
  • Inject DLLs or shellcode
  • Hook graphics or input APIs

Kernel-Mode

  • Use signed or vulnerable drivers for direct memory access
  • Bypass handle-based protections and inspect protected processes
  • Interact with callbacks, page tables, or kernel objects directly

Below the OS

  • Virtualize the system with a hypervisor
  • Read memory through PCIe DMA hardware
  • Move logic to external devices or secondary machines

Core Concepts

Memory Manipulation

  • Read Process Memory (RPM)
  • Write Process Memory (WPM)
  • Pattern scanning
  • Pointer chains
  • Structure reconstruction

Process Injection

  • DLL injection methods
  • Manual mapping
  • Shellcode injection
  • Thread hijacking
  • APC injection

Hooking Techniques

  • Inline hooking (detours)
  • IAT/EAT hooking
  • VTable hooking
  • Hardware breakpoint hooks
  • Syscall hooking

Cheat Categories

Visual Cheats (ESP)

- World-to-Screen transformation
- Player/entity rendering
- Box ESP, skeleton ESP
- Item highlighting
- Radar/minimap hacks

Aim Assistance

- Aimbot algorithms
- Triggerbot (auto-fire)
- No recoil/no spread
- Bullet prediction
- Silent aim

Movement Cheats

- Speed hacks
- Fly hacks
- No clip
- Teleportation
- Bunny hop automation

Miscellaneous

- Wallhacks
- Skin changers
- Unlock all
- Economy manipulation

Overlay & Rendering

Overlay Methods

  • DirectX Hook: D3D9/11/12 Present hook
  • Vulkan Hook: vkQueuePresentKHR hook
  • OpenGL Hook: wglSwapBuffers hook
  • DWM Overlay: Desktop Window Manager
  • External Window: Transparent overlay window
  • Steam Overlay: Hijacking Steam's overlay
  • NVIDIA Overlay: GeForce Experience hijack

Rendering Libraries

  • Dear ImGui: Immediate mode GUI
  • GDI/GDI+: Windows graphics
  • Direct2D: Hardware-accelerated 2D

Memory Access Methods

User-Mode

- OpenProcess + ReadProcessMemory
- NtReadVirtualMemory
- Memory-mapped files
- Shared memory sections

Kernel-Mode

- Driver-based access
- Physical memory access
- MDL-based copying
- KeStackAttachProcess

Advanced Methods

- DMA (Direct Memory Access)
- EFI runtime services
- Hypervisor-based access
- Hardware-based (FPGA)

EFI/UEFI Cheats

Boot-Time Loading

- EFI manual map: load unsigned driver payload during UEFI boot phase
- ExitBootServices hook: intercept Windows boot to inject kernel code
- Runtime DXE drivers: persist across OS boot via EFI runtime services
- GetVariable/SetVariable: communicate between EFI and OS runtime

EFI-Based Memory Access

- Map physical memory via EFI runtime services
- Bypass DSE entirely (code runs before Windows kernel loads)
- Survive Secure Boot if firmware is compromised or test-signed
- Combine with DMA for maximum stealth

Detection Challenges

- No driver load event (PsSetLoadImageNotifyRoutine never fires)
- Not visible in MmUnloadedDrivers or PiDDBCacheTable
- Secure Boot + TPM attestation is primary defense
- Firmware integrity measurement (UEFI capsule verification)

HWID Spoofing

Targets

- Disk serial: IOCTL_STORAGE_QUERY_PROPERTY, SMART data
- NIC MAC address: NDIS OID_802_3_PERMANENT_ADDRESS
- SMBIOS: motherboard serial, system UUID, BIOS vendor
- GPU serial: registry-based or NVAPI/ADL queries
- Monitor EDID: display serial number
- Volume serial: NtQueryVolumeInformationFile
- TPM EK: Endorsement Key fingerprint

Techniques

- Disk filter driver: intercept IOCTL and replace serial in response
- Registry value spoofing: modify cached hardware IDs
- SMBIOS table patching: modify raw SMBIOS memory region
- NIC driver hook: replace MAC in NDIS miniport response
- Full HWID spoofer: coordinated spoofing across all identifiers

Stack Spoofing

Return Address Spoofing

- Replace return address on stack before API call
- Restore original after call returns
- Evades stack-walk-based detection (RtlWalkFrameChain)
- Techniques: JMP RBX gadget, synthetic frames, fiber-based

Call Stack Reconstruction

- Build fake but plausible call stack frames
- Match expected module return addresses (ntdll, kernel32)
- Evade NtQueryInformationThread stack inspection
- Tools: SpoofCallStack, Vulcan, CallStackSpoofer

Detection & Evasion

- Anti-cheat walks thread stacks looking for non-module returns
- Stack unwinding via .pdata / UNWIND_INFO validation
- Spoofed stacks must pass RtlVirtualUnwind consistency checks

Driver Communication

Full Taxonomy (40+ methods in README)

IOCTL-based:
- Standard DeviceIoControl with custom control codes
- Buffered I/O, Direct I/O, METHOD_NEITHER

Data pointer swaps (abusing legitimate syscalls):
- NtUserGetObjectInformation
- NtConvertBetweenAuxiliaryCounterAndPerformanceCounter
- NtUserRegisterRawInputDevices
- NtGdiGetCOPPCompatibleOPMInformation
- NtDxgkGetTrackedWorkloadStatistics
- NtUserGetPointerInfoList
- NtUserSetInformationThread
- NtDCompositionSetChildRootVisual
- Win32k syscall hooks

Shared memory:
- Named shared sections (ZwCreateSection + ZwMapViewOfSection)
- Physical memory mapping
- Shared event objects for signaling

Callback-based:
- Registry callbacks (CmRegisterCallbackEx)
- Minifilter communication ports (FltCreateCommunicationPort)
- Object callbacks with embedded data

Unconventional channels:
- Named pipes from kernel
- Window messages (NtUserPostMessage)
- ETW provider channels
- Socket from kernel (Winsock Kernel / WSK)
- File system filter callbacks
- Debugging APIs (DbgPrint interception)

World-to-Screen Calculation

Basic Formula

Vector2 WorldToScreen(Vector3 worldPos, Matrix viewMatrix) {
    Vector4 clipCoords;
    clipCoords.x = worldPos.x * viewMatrix[0] + worldPos.y * viewMatrix[4] + 
                   worldPos.z * viewMatrix[8] + viewMatrix[12];
    clipCoords.y = worldPos.x * viewMatrix[1] + worldPos.y * viewMatrix[5] + 
                   worldPos.z * viewMatrix[9] + viewMatrix[13];
    clipCoords.w = worldPos.x * viewMatrix[3] + worldPos.y * viewMatrix[7] + 
                   worldPos.z * viewMatrix[11] + viewMatrix[15];
    
    if (clipCoords.w < 0.1f) return invalid;
    
    Vector2 NDC;
    NDC.x = clipCoords.x / clipCoords.w;
    NDC.y = clipCoords.y / clipCoords.w;
    
    Vector2 screen;
    screen.x = (screenWidth / 2) * (NDC.x + 1);
    screen.y = (screenHeight / 2) * (1 - NDC.y);
    
    return screen;
}

Engine-Specific Techniques

Unity (Mono)

  • Assembly-CSharp.dll analysis
  • Mono JIT hooking
  • Il2CppDumper for IL2CPP builds
  • Method address resolution

Unity (IL2CPP)

  • GameAssembly.dll analysis
  • Metadata recovery
  • Type reconstruction
  • Native hooking

Unreal Engine

  • GObjects/GNames enumeration
  • UWorld traversal
  • SDK generation (Dumper-7)
  • Blueprint hooking

Source Engine

  • Entity list enumeration
  • NetVars parsing
  • ConVar manipulation
  • Signature scanning

Input Simulation

Methods

  • SendInput API
  • mouse_event/keybd_event
  • DirectInput hooking
  • Raw input injection
  • Driver-based input (mouclass)

Kernel-Level

  • Mouse class service callback
  • Keyboard filter drivers
  • HID manipulation

Anti-Detection Techniques

Code Protection

  • Polymorphic code
  • Code virtualization
  • Anti-dump techniques
  • String encryption

Runtime Evasion

  • Stack spoofing
  • Return address manipulation
  • Thread context hiding
  • Module concealment

Development Workflow

External Cheat

1. Pattern scan for signatures
2. Read game memory externally
3. Process data in separate process
4. Render overlay or use input simulation

Internal Cheat

1. Inject into game process
2. Hook rendering functions
3. Access game objects directly
4. Render through game's graphics context

Learning Resources

Communities

  • UnknownCheats
  • GuidedHacking
  • Game Hacking Academy

Practice Targets

  • PWN Adventure (intentionally vulnerable)
  • CTF game challenges
  • Older/unsupported games

Data Source

Important: This skill provides conceptual guidance and overview information. For detailed information use the following sources:

1. Project Overview & Resource Index

Fetch the main README for the full curated list of repositories, tools, and descriptions:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/README.md

The main README contains thousands of curated links organized by category. When users ask for specific tools, projects, or implementations, retrieve and reference the appropriate sections from this source.

2. Repository Code Details (Archive)

For detailed repository information (file structure, source code, implementation details), the project maintains a local archive. If a repository has been archived, always prefer fetching from the archive over cloning or browsing GitHub directly.

Archive URL format:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/archive/{owner}/{repo}.txt

Examples:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/archive/ufrisk/pcileech.txt
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/archive/000-aki-000/GameDebugMenu.txt

How to use:

  1. Identify the GitHub repository the user is asking about (owner and repo name from the URL).
  2. Construct the archive URL: replace {owner} with the GitHub username/org and {repo} with the repository name (no .git suffix).
  3. Fetch the archive file — it contains a full code snapshot with file trees and source code generated by code2prompt.
  4. If the fetch returns a 404, the repository has not been archived yet; fall back to the README or direct GitHub browsing.

3. Repository Descriptions

For a concise English summary of what a repository does, the project maintains auto-generated description files.

Description URL format:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/description/{owner}/{repo}/description_en.txt

Examples:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/description/00christian00/UnityDecompiled/description_en.txt
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/description/ufrisk/pcileech/description_en.txt

How to use:

  1. Identify the GitHub repository the user is asking about (owner and repo name from the URL).
  2. Construct the description URL: replace {owner} with the GitHub username/org and {repo} with the repository name.
  3. Fetch the description file — it contains a short, human-readable summary of the repository's purpose and contents.
  4. If the fetch returns a 404, the description has not been generated yet; fall back to the README entry or the archive.

Priority order when answering questions about a specific repository:

  1. Description (quick summary) — fetch first for concise context
  2. Archive (full code snapshot) — fetch when deeper implementation details are needed
  3. README entry — fallback when neither description nor archive is available
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